Flatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsFLATLAND: A ROMANCE OF MANY DIMENSIONS is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster EDWIN A ABBOTT. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square," Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. The story is about a two-dimensional world referred to as Flatland which is occupied by geometric figures. Women are simple line-segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a humble square, a member of the social caste of gentlemen and professionals in a society of geometric figures, who guides us through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. |
